Six famous football players converted to Islam

The list of football players around the globe who have decided to convert to Islam during the early or later years of their lives is long. Tuko has gathered six famous footballers who chose to join one of the largest religions in the world. We also debunked some rumors. Scroll down to the bonus material.

1. Emmanuel Adebayor

A Togolese footballer who plays as a forward for English club Tottenham Hotspur and the Togo national team has recently converted to Islam in a ceremony recorded and posted to YouTube. It appeared Adebayor was a practising Christian until recently, as he used to post pictures of himself with a priest to Facebook with captions praising God. The footballer, however, hasn't made any public announcements about his conversion.

2. Franck Ribery

A French professional footballer who plays for German club Bayern Munich converted to Islam in 2002 because of his wife, Wahiba Belhami, and added Muslim name Bilal. According to Ribery, religion is his privacy and he is feeling physically and mentally stronger since he preferred Islam.

3. Eric Abidal

A French retired professional footballer, who had been diagnosed with a tumour in his liver in March 2011 and a year later underwent a second operation on it, has converted from Catholicism to Islam and changed his name to Bilal Eric Abidal right after his wedding in 2007. A former defender of FC Barcelona is married to the Algerian-born Hayet Kebir who is a former gymnast.

4. Nicolas Anelka

Another French footballer who is now a player-manager of Mumbai City FC has converted to Islam when he was sixteen. Anelka kept his religious beliefs private for a long time. He went though his formal conversion only in 2004 in UAE, and adopted the Muslim name of Abdul-Salam Bilal.

5. Danny Blum

A German footballer has announced his reversion to Islam in January 2015. According to Blum, he prays five times a day and eats halal food. He describes Islam as a religion of hope and strength.

6. Emeka Ezeugo

A former Nigerian football defender and midfielder who played in 1994 World Cup converted to Islam in February 2012. According to Ezeugo, he embraced Islam after being inspired by the life of Prophet Mohammad.

Bonus:

Robin van Persie

A lot of people believe van Persie, a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a striker for Turkish club Fenerbahçe and is the captain of the Netherlands national team, is a Muslim. However, this is far from the truth. He is married to a Moroccan-Dutch wife, Bouchra van Persie, who has embraced Islam, BUT he has said "I am not a Muslim nor a Christian, nor Jew".

Thierry Henry

Thierry Daniel Henry, a retired French professional footballer, who played for Monaco, Juventus, Barcelona, New York Red Bulls and spent eight years at Arsenal, is believed to be a Muslim. However, this information isn't confirmed either by the footballer or by any other reliable source. The only confirmation about his religious views could be taken from a video that, apparently, has not been translated into English by a reputable news source. According to the several existing translations, Henry says that he feels closer to Islam than any other religion, that he respects his Muslim friends, and that if he were to convert to a religion, it would be Islam.